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STRIKES

Will Italy’s strikes on Friday affect the Ryder Cup in Rome?

A quarter of a million visitors are expected in Rome this weekend for the first Ryder Cup golf tournament ever to be held in Italy, but will they face transport strikes in the city?

Published: 28 September 2023 17:04 CEST
Will Italy's strikes on Friday affect the Ryder Cup in Rome?
A practice session ahead of the 44th Ryder Cup at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome on September 28, 2023. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)

Players from Europe and the United States will battle it out between Friday and Sunday in the Cup’s 44th edition, to be held at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome.

But with reports of transport strikes in the news, people visiting Rome this weekend may be concerned that their plans will be disrupted.

Strikes now look unlikely to cause disruption in the city of Rome itself, after a 24-hour public transport strike planned for Friday was postponed until October 9th.

Airport strikes

Friday may however be a difficult day for air travel to or from Italy, with more than one strike by airport and airline staff set to go ahead within the same 24-hour period.

It remains unclear ahead of the strikes how disruptive they may turn out to be, and whether this could lead to any significant delays at Italian airports.

STRIKES: How will flights and transport in Italy be affected on Friday?

Aeroporti di Roma, the management company running Rome’s two airports, Ciampino and Fiumicino, had not announced any likely disruption as of Thursday afternoon, only warning passengers flying on Friday to check the status of their flight with their airline before setting off.

Flights scheduled to depart between 7am and 10am and between 6pm and 9pm are protected from strikes under Italian law, and should go ahead as usual on Friday. 

Italy’s civil aviation authority Enac has published a list of flights guaranteed to go ahead on Friday on its website.

(Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

Public transport

Strikes shouldn’t cause any particular problems with getting around Rome by public transport during the tournament.

However, there is a closure on part of the metro line this weekend which could complicate things for passengers.

Rome’s metro B1, a branch of the B line, will be shut from September 28th until October 1st.

This line serves four stations, from Piazza Bologna to Jonio, in the north-east of the capital, close to the Marco Simone golf course.

The city transport authority ATAC said the closure was urgently needed in order to carry out repair work on overhead lines, and that the B1 line will be replaced by shuttle buses in the meantime.

Rome meanwhile plans to increase the frequency of metro trains on the B line to once every five minutes for the duration of the Ryder Cup.

The city has also announced free shuttle buses will be laid on between Marco Simone and the train stations Ponte Mammolo (Metro B) and La Rustica UIR (FL2 railway) over the weekend.

Find more information on Rome city council’s Ryder Cup event website.

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For members

BREXIT

Are Italy’s British residents still getting their passports stamped?

UK residents of Italy protected under the Withdrawal Agreement reported having their passports wrongly stamped at border checks in the months after Brexit. Has that practice ended, or are some Brits still experiencing issues?

Published: 22 May 2024 15:53 CEST
Are Italy's British residents still getting their passports stamped?

In the months after the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement was finalised, many UK citizens in Italy with permanent Italian residency reported having their passports wrongly stamped on leaving and entering Italy.

Italy is one of a handful of “declaratory” countries in the EU where getting a post-Brexit residency card was optional, rather than compulsory, though UK authorities advised obtaining the card as “evidence of your rights”.

The lack of clarity caused widespread confusion, with many Italian officials wrongly insisting that the carta di soggiorno elettronica was the only valid proof of pre-Brexit Italian residency.

The issue has been largely resolved for British citizens who finally gave in and applied for the document, with most cardholders saying they no longer have issues with their passports being stamped at the country’s major airports.

However, some UK nationals say they’re still wrongly having their passports stamped at smaller airports in Italy, especially when travelling alongside large groups of Brits who aren’t resident in Italy.

And others report routinely having their passport stamped when entering the Schengen zone via a different EU member state to that of Italy – for example, when travelling by car from the UK via France.

READ ALSO: What’s the deal with passport stamping in Italy?

UK national David Prince commented in response to a recent article on passport stamping that a border official had stamped his passport on arriving in Calais, despite his presenting an Italian residency permit.

“When I asked why he simply said “Article 50,” Prince said, “which I knew was rubbish but I couldn’t be bothered to argue.”

According to European Commission rules in place since 2022, Schengen border agents have been told that they shouldn’t stamp the passports of anyone with a valid EU residence permit – but there’s no EU law stopping them from doing so.

Even if your passport is stamped, it doesn’t carry any official weight.

“The Commission recommends – notably as regards beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement – that Member State border guards refrain from stamping,” the rules say.

“In any case, should stamping nevertheless take place, such stamp cannot affect the length of the authorised long-term stay.”

READ ALSO: Can I use my Italian carta d’identità for travel?

If you arrive at any Schengen border, it’s advisable to hand over your passport already opened to the photo page, with your residency card on top, and say that you’re resident in Italy.

If you’re at an Italian border checkpoint, you might want to say ‘sono residente in Italia’ – I’m an Italian resident.

One source of confusion for some residents has been the difference between a carta d’identità and a carta di soggiorno.

The carta di soggiorno elettronica is your residency card, wheres a carta d’identità is simply an ID card.

The carta d’identità is valid for ten years, but that doesn’t automatically give you the right to stay in Italy for all that time. Some non-EU citizens on certain visas might have a ten-year ID card, but a one-year Italian residency permit.

For that reason, your carta d’identità isn’t considered proof of your right to be in the country; as a British citizen resident in Italy and covered under the Withdrawal Agreement, you’ll need to show your carta di soggiorno elettronica to a border agent to stand the best chance of avoiding having your passport stamped.

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